A FINE EARLY 18TH CENTURY MARBLE PORTRAIT RELIEF, PROBABLY FRANCO-FLEMISH AND DEPICTING GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL, CIRCA 1720depicted as a bust and wearing a long, flowing wig and an open-necked shirt and cloak pinned on his right shoulder, applied to a black felt covered mount,the marble 19cm high x 15cm wideThis fine marble relief appears to be from the same workshop as two other reliefs that depict unknown sitters (now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, A.5-1988 and A.63-1965) and a third which depicts the musician Henry Purcell. All three oval marble reliefs depict their sitters with full flowing wigs, open-necked shirts and cloaks secured with a pin, the folds of drapery are carved in the same manner, the facial features carefully modelled to create realistic portraits, with the pupils and irises carefully delineated. They are all of similarly small size, the V&A example being 18.5cm high and the Purcell example 22cm high. The two reliefs that are now in the Victoria and Albert Museum have been attributed to a French or South Netherlandish sculptor working between 1700 and 1720. Little is known of these reliefs, although it is noted that they both resemble ivory reliefs, and certainly the similarity between all four of these portrait reliefs and the work of ivory carver David Le Marchand (1674-1726) is apparent. The third relief is known to depict the musician Henry Purcell (1659-1695) and was sold at Sotheby's, London on 11 May 2004, lot 413 (£10,800). This portrait was believed to have been based on the portrait painted by John Closterman in 1695 (see National Portrait Gallery, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 1981, p.462., no. 1352); and was catalogued as English, late 17th century.It seems entirely possible that the sculptor could have been a Flemish or French carver working in London in the first part of the 18th century, much like David Le Marchand who was French but working in London from 1705.